


Understanding

by lilyleia78



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: 5 Things, Communication, Friendship, Gen, Gen Fic, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-25
Updated: 2012-01-25
Packaged: 2017-10-30 02:35:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/326814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilyleia78/pseuds/lilyleia78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Teal'c and Daniel understood one another, and one time they didn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Understanding

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fignewton](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=fignewton).



> Written for [personal profile] fignewton both as part of the five things + 1 meme and in honor of SG-1 Gen Fic Day. The prompt is hers.

1\. Body Language.  
  
Daniel ducked in low behind a stack of crates and glanced around quickly to check that all of his new teammates had found similar cover. A couple of yards to his right, Jack and Sam were tucked safely behind a low wall. Teal’c was closer on his left; but it may as well have been miles considering the number of staff blasts headed their direction and the lack of cover between them.  
  
Daniel turned back the other direction and Jack caught his eye. Once he was sure that had Daniel’s attention he made a complicated series of one handed gestures and head movements that Daniel found both vaguely familiar and totally incomprehensible. He probably shouldn’t have skipped that working lunch lesson about military hand signals Jack had wanted him and Teal’c to attend. He watched helplessly as Jack whispered something to Sam and looked back to Daniel for confirmation.  
  
Daniel shrugged back with a sheepish shake of his head.  
  
Jack scowled at him and gave the signals again more forcefully. Like _that_ was going to help.  
  
Daniel rolled his eyes and shifted position to share a look of commiseration with Teal’c. But Teal’c was watching Jack, and he nodded back at the other man with a look of understanding. Daniel sighed heavily. Jack was never going to let him live this down. Assuming they got out alive, of course.  
  
Now Teal’c was waving for Daniel’s attention. He made an entirely different series of gestures – the battle language of the Jaffa – and Daniel grinned. It looked like he going to survive to take Jack’s abuse after all. On the count of three, he stood up.  
  
2\. Alien language.  
  
“This whole situation was one big plactoh,” Daniel spat out as his weary, waterlogged team stumbled back through the gate after yet another complete failure of diplomacy.  
  
“Gesundheit,” Jack said promptly.  
  
“Was that Klingon?” Sam asked as she led the way down the ramp.  
  
“It is Gou’ald,” Teal’c answered gravely, the only one who had managed not to look like a drowned rat.   
  
“Yeah?” Jack asked absently. “Never heard that one.”  
  
“It means…” Daniel began automatically. “Well…it’s kind of like…Ah…”  
  
“I do not believe there is a word in your language that conveys its proper meaning,” Teal’c interrupted.  
  
“Oh,” Jack said disinterestedly, breaking away from the group to report to the General.  
  
When he was out of earshot, Daniel turned gratefully to his teammate. “Thanks, Teal’c.”  
  
“You are welcome, Daniel Jackson. In the future, it would be wise to hold off on insulting your commanding officer until he is out of range.  
  
Daniel laughed. “Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.”  
  
3\. No language.  
  
Daniel didn’t want to go to sleep. He was terrified that when he closed his eyes he’d find Janet – unseeing eyes staring accusingly at him - waiting for him there.   
  
He hit the gym and he tried to do a little research for an upcoming mission, but while they tired him in mind and body it was his heart that needed to find peace before he could give into his exhaustion.  
  
He slipped into the darkened, candlelit room quietly, careful not to disturb the room’s lone occupant. He settled onto the floor crosslegged and closed his eyes.  
  
The man next to him shifted, deliberately bumping his knees gently against Daniel’s – a reminder that he was not alone.   
  
Daniel’s smile was bittersweet but sincere. _Thanks, Teal’c_  
  
4\. Hidden language.  
  
“Thanks Dr. Jackson,” the young linguist called over her shoulder as she rushed from the mess.  
  
Daniel smiled fondly after her. It was nice to have a simple problem to solve every once in awhile. Even if it was during his lunch hour.  
  
“Since when did the Ancients keep diaries about not getting along with their co-workers?” Jack asked irritably. Apparently he didn’t appreciate having his lunch interrupted even for a simple problem.  
  
“Jack,” Daniel said reproachfully. “I’m her supervisor. She just needed someone to talk to without the baggage that comes with making a formal complaint.”  
  
“I think you handled it very well,” Sam said, hiding a smile when Jack glared at her.  
  
“I believe you would have made an excellent psychologist,” Teal’c said.  
  
Daniel peered suspiciously across the table at his friend, but Teal’c’s expression was beyond inscrutable.  
  
“A head shrinker?” Jack asked with mild disgust. “Nah. Then he’d never have had the joy of knowing us. Right, Daniel?”  
  
Daniel kept his eyes on Teal’c as he answered, “Whatever you say, Chief.”  
  
From the corner of his eye, Daniel could see Jack and Sam exchanging curious looks, but Teal’c met his gaze with a smile and a tiny nod of acknowledgement and Daniel grinned back.  
  
5\. Silence.  
  
“So, you’re really not telling, huh?” Daniel asked Teal’c.  
  
Teal’c’s arm jerked up briefly before resettling, an aborted gesture that Daniel had seen many times since their adventures with the time loop on the _Odyssey._ Daniel thought he was reaching for his grey streaks, as if to reassure himself that it had really happened.  
  
“No, Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c said simply.  
  
“Wow, you’ve really got that man-of-mystery thing down,” Daniel teased.  
  
Teal’c smiled. “Is not foreknowledge humanity’s greatest curse in the story of Pandora?”  
  
“Hope, actually,” Daniel responded automatically. “Although certain translations could be interrupted as expectation – or knowledge – of the future.” He stopped himself before the discussion turned into a full-blown lecture on the Greeks views on fate versus hope and how that related to the possible interference of the Gou’ald in human history.   
  
Besides. “Yeah,” Daniel continued, thinking of the knowledge he’d gained and lost and regained while Ascended. “I know exactly what you mean.”  
  
One time they didn’t – written language  
  
Daniel stared helplessly as the timer ticked down – 30 seconds, 25, 20. He looked desperately at Teal’c and then back to the white board next to him, desperately tapping what he’d written there earlier – 10 seconds.  
  
Teal’c frowned at Daniel, turned back to the board and opened his mouth, but it was too late.  
  
“Time!” Mitchell yelled over Daniel’s groan. “Ladies, would you like to try to steal?”  
  
“E=mc2,” Sam crowed triumphantly.  
  
Daniel sighed. “Yes.”   
  
Vala and Sam jumped up from the couch laughing and hugging each other in victory.  
  
“I do not understand,” Teal’c said.  
  
“Me neither,” Daniel answered. “I don’t remember equations being a part of pictionary.”  
  
Sam grinned unapologetically. “I think you did a great job, Daniel. The crazy-haired guy is clearly Einstein and the church represents mass.”  
  
“Thanks, Sam. Next time, I’m on your team.”


End file.
